Doreen Ingrams and her husband were the first Europeans ever to live in the Hadhramaut, an extraordinary, isolated region of southern Arabia. Married to an Arabic-speaking British official, they arrived by boat, and during their ten-year residency travelled throughout the region by camel and donkey. Doreen kept a diary in which she detailed their adventures and described her unequalled access to the domestic quarters, to the women and children, the food, the scents, secrets, jewels and privileges of this extraordinarily rich traditional society.

A Time in Arabia is a precious document seen through the eyes of a decent, modest and compassionate woman.

‘There are deep insights into a closed and fascinating society... I suspect that the Hadhramis loved her, above all, for being such a fearless mucker-in.’ - Tim Mackintosh-Smith